Final week I listened to a podcast from Lucid Motors SVP Mike Bell (ex-Apple, ex-Rivian) on what makes the Lucid Air and the approaching Lucid SUV code named Gravity, due in 2024, so very totally different from each different automobile on the street, together with Tesla.
Given Tesla was closely influenced by Apple, as effectively, will probably be attention-grabbing to see the variations Apple brings to this market when it lastly proclaims its electrical automobile.
The route of those three corporations seems to be in lockstep. It’s a shift from the standard priorities of the previous automobile producers to a mannequin that’s extra per a tech agency. Automobile corporations like Lucid and Tesla are extra like Apple than they’re like GM or Ford — which I feel will ultimately grow to be an issue for GM and Ford.
I’ve additionally had up to date briefings from Nvidia and Qualcomm on how they’re coping with autonomous driving in what may very well be a complimentary strategy for subsequent era EVs.
Let’s speak about the way forward for electrical automobiles, and we’ll shut with my product of the week: an replace on the Bartesian robotic bartender by, no kidding, Black+Decker.
Nvidia and Qualcomm Car Tech
Nvidia’s Drive platform is used closely in Lucid automobiles. It’s a complete group of choices that covers the autonomous automobile know-how stack from conception and simulation to coaching, to inference within the automobiles. A lot of the power, nevertheless, is in Nvidia’s Omniverse simulation functionality which is used extensively within the automotive business.
Qualcomm is concentrated extra on price decreasing the automobile facet of this equation with compelling in-car know-how that, on paper, is each cheaper and higher than the opposite alternate options.
Given automobile corporations are laser centered on margins, you’ll be able to see a world rising the place Nvidia could personal a lot of the backend and management construction for autonomous automobiles, and the place Qualcomm may very well be current in a lot of the automobiles with its associated self-driving capabilities. Qualcomm has demonstrated that its capacity to maintain smartphone prices down can translate into in-car options that may do a lot the identical factor.
An more and more potential future is the place Nvidia offers a lot of the autonomous automobile backend whereas Qualcomm offers the multilayered laptop imaginative and prescient know-how within the automobile.
Automobile and Driver Interplay
I used to be driving behind a Lucid automobile (pictured above) final week and should admit I discovered the automobile fascinating to take a look at. It actually isn’t like another automobile on the street. Efficiency specs and value are each stunning.
On efficiency, they supply right down to a 2.5 second 0 to 60 acceleration time, as much as 1,111 HP, as much as 168 mph, and as much as 520 miles of vary in what’s class-leading efficiency for the time being. However that efficiency will price you near $200K.
Then once more you’ll be able to argue you might be principally getting 4 automobiles for the value of 1: a sports activities automobile, a household automobile, an off-road automobile, and hauler (it has an enormous quantity of baggage house), multi functional automobile.
Lucid additionally showcases a change in considering concerning the interplay between the automobile and its driver. Up till now the motive force has needed to learn to function the automobile. Each automobile is totally different sufficient so that almost all drivers could by no means learn to use all of the options. For example, I’ve by no means been in a position to make use of my automobile’s self-parking functionality efficiently.
The Lucid mannequin learns find out how to work with you, learns your preferences, and this knowledge may very well be transferred from automobile to automobile so that you simply by no means once more face the difficulty of being unable to correctly use a characteristic you’ve bought.
After-Buy Upgrades
Lucid goes farther than most to current an answer that isn’t solely software-defined however doubtlessly simpler to replace and improve over time, which is able to maintain the automobiles in service longer than in any other case could be the case.
I’ve grow to be slightly pissed off with the extra conventional automobile corporations as a result of you’ll be able to virtually guess that proper after you purchase a brand new automobile, they’ll do an improve that may’t be retrofitted, and you’d have gotten had you recognized it was coming.
For instance, a number of years again I purchased a Mercedes. Someday between once I ordered the automobile and it was delivered, they put one of many options I’d ordered into one other package deal that wasn’t out there once I ordered my automobile and, as a result of I hadn’t chosen that bundle (once more, it wasn’t even out there on the time I ordered) they deleted the characteristic from the automobile.
The one method I might get it again was to pay thrice what it had price previous to that occuring. This huge price improve was as a result of it was far costlier so as to add that characteristic as soon as the automobile was constructed.
Lucid and Tesla have each demonstrated they will do a much better job of offering after-purchase upgrades to their automobiles. Because the business considers the idea of cars-as-a-service, this capacity to alter a automobile’s configuration after it leaves the manufacturing unit opens the door to not solely a stronger used automobile alternative for sellers, however a far longer, happier relationship with the automobiles we find yourself shopping for.
Reasonably than changing a superbly good automobile after three years as a result of it had grow to be outdated, think about updating the automobile so it’s almost similar to a brand new one.
Lucid’s technology-centric software-focused strategy additionally means many of those upgrades could come as a part of a service very similar to among the extra attention-grabbing enhancements to Tesla automobiles over time. Tesla stays one of many few automobile corporations the place drivers sit up for software program updates as a result of Tesla builds in nice surprises, and Lucid is trying to outdo Tesla on this regard.
A part of why Lucid might be able to outdo Tesla is its use of Nvidia Drive which stays a novel method that smaller automobile corporations can match or exceed the capabilities of the bigger companies by using Nvidia’s in depth assets. It truly is a recreation changer.
Wrapping Up
As we transfer to the center of the last decade, our automobile experiences will probably be altering a fantastic deal, turning into not solely extra customizable to the client, however auto-adapting to that purchaser submit sale to offer a stage of customized expertise that hasn’t been seen within the tech market, not to mention within the automotive market.
As soon as that is carried out, the know-how market could have to choose up from among the advances of the automotive business to higher compete of their section as a result of this idea of a product adapting itself to the person’s distinctive wants is a aggressive revolution.
It’s laborious to see how any buyer, when given the selection, would ever go for the previous method of pressured studying and lack of flexibility within the more and more smarter private know-how, home equipment, and automobiles they purchase.
Firms like Lucid, Rivian, Tesla, Nvidia, and Qualcomm are driving the automotive market kicking and screaming right into a future that’s much more aware of the wants of their consumers. That’s excellent news for our buying future, although seemingly not till the second half of the last decade.
The ‘bev’ by Black+Decker
We had been one of many first house owners of the Bartesian robotic bar tender, and we’ve loved the product for a number of years because it got here out.
Nonetheless, there have been annoyances that revolved round how the alcohol was retained within the gadget and the ache of filling it with water which regularly acquired spilled. We left one of many alcohol bottles in place with out cleansing them for too lengthy and it acquired caught. So, we went searching for a substitute solely to find that Black+Decker has created a more recent model of the Bartesian known as bev (small b) and it’s superior!
Let’s begin off with the truth that with the previous Bartesian we needed to swap out the rum and gin bottles when making drinks as a result of it solely held 4 sorts of booze. The brand new model holds 5 totally different bottles, and it makes use of the bottles the alcohol is available in, so that you not have to scrub the bottles, you simply toss them out when they’re empty. As well as, it offers a sixth bottle for water with the intention to fill it simply underneath the faucet (don’t attempt to fill it from the fridge; you’ll get water everywhere in the ground).
The ‘bev’ on-demand cocktail maker (Picture Credit score: Bartesian)
The unit has lights underneath the bottles which mild up because the drinks are being made or can cycle because it sits unused, making for a slightly spectacular presentation in your kitchen or bar. Whereas the previous Bartesian had a show that may stroll you thru making a drink, the bev has 5 buttons. The primary 4 are for drink measurement and the final begins the method of constructing the drink which is way sooner and extra enjoyable to observe.
The bev makes use of the identical pods because the previous Bartesian however lacks a water chiller, so you will have to produce the ice. However the result’s higher wanting, far much less messy (the previous Bartesian would leak every so often when filling), and to this point it has labored flawlessly.
On a sizzling day, and we’re getting loads of these, a chilly rum punch is a pleasant solution to finish the day; and on weekends sitting exterior with a relaxing cocktail helps make all of it worthwhile.
Priced at round $300, the brand new bev by Black+Decker is my product of the week. Cheers!
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